


Compromise; or, five times richard wanted something he couldn’t quite have

by hjea



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Babies, F/M, Pregnancy, Step-parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-02
Updated: 2012-03-02
Packaged: 2017-10-31 23:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/349659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hjea/pseuds/hjea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the not-so-distant future, Richard decides to live with some of the choices Kahlan has made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compromise; or, five times richard wanted something he couldn’t quite have

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted 01/14/10.

He hadn’t seen her in five months.    
  
Word spread quickly through the town. First whispers that a woman in white had passed through the outskirts, and then louder assurances that yes, unmistakeably, it was the Mother Confessor back from wherever she had been, seen heading straight to the Seeker’s home. Richard couldn’t quite believe them—not after so long—but he had come to understand that appearances mattered, and so he went out and waited by his front gate.    
  
They were right. She rounded the corner and came to a sudden stop before him, standing as tall and solemn as the day he had met her, and Richard felt his heart reel in his chest.    
  
“Kahlan!” He managed to gasp, and reached out to hold onto the fence post as if he expected the ground to give way before him.    
  
Kahlan’s eyes dropped from his astounded gaze. “Richard,” she began, chin trembling, “I—I’m pregnant.”    
  
She dropped slowly onto the ground and began to cry into the dirt, wracking sobs that shook her whole frame. Richard stepped forward and numbly wrapped his arms around her, rocking her as the crowds turned muttering away towards their homes.   
  
“It’s okay,” he whispered into her hair, “it’s going to be fine. I’ll take care of you.”    
  
***    
  
They were practicing in the yard, simple sword feints against knife blocks, more to stay in shape than to truly hone their skills. Richard was losing himself in the rhythm, body thrumming in the familiarity of the movements, when Kahlan pulled a sloppy deflect and stopped.    
  
“Richard!”    
  
She pulled at his free hand and placed it on the lower curve of her belly, grinning at him as he felt the kick like a flutter beneath his palm.    
  
“Wow.”    
  
He met her eyes and mirrored her grin, and for a moment they stood holding their breaths in anticipation for the next sign of life.    
  
Richard realized later that for that small instant they had both forgotten that this wasn’t both their child. Wasn’t his child.    
  
He hadn’t asked Kahlan who the father was, and she hadn’t offered to tell him. Richard preferred not to think about another soulless man waiting alone and pining for her love.    
  
***   
  
“She’s beautiful.”    
  
Richard rocked the tiny baby gently and sat beside the bed. Kahlan smiled, exhausted but happy.    
  
“Really?”    
  
“Yes. She looks exactly like you.”    
  
Richard settled the baby in Kahlan’s arms, and together they examined the delicately flexing fingers, the swirl of dark hair on her head, the flash of bright blue that peeked out from between slitted eyes. Kahlan leaned back against her cushions and blew out a breath, and Richard could see unspoken tension ease out of her tired frame, as if she had been holding onto it for months.    
  
“I was thinking,” Kahlan said after a moment, eyes meeting Richard’s shyly, “that we could name her after your mother.”    
  
Richard froze. He couldn’t help it, and he winced when he saw hurt understanding pass quickly through Kahlan’s eyes. He gulped, and struggled to ease their sudden discomfort.    
  
“What about your mother’s name?” He suggested weakly. “Or Dennee’s?”    
  
Kahlan wasn’t looking at him anymore. Instead, her eyes followed the curve of her daughter’s cheek.    
  
“She is a new generation,” Kahlan mused, “maybe she deserves her own name. One without the burdens of the past.”    
  
Richard nodded and tried not to show the relief flooding his body. “I think that’s a great idea.” He stroked the baby’s head, softly, with one finger, and pressed a kiss to Kahlan’s matted hair. “She’s a fresh start.”    
  
***   
  
Richard smiled and lifted his face to the sun, happy to be home after too long away. The Midlands still chaffed after its recent upheavals and changing leadership, and Richard was resigned to the fact that, Seeker or not, a Rahl’s job in this new peacetime was to show his face and play politics by travelling from one end of the country to other. It was tiresome, but necessary, and at least made his journeys home all the sweeter for his absence.    
  
He was doubly happy that he had managed to coax Cara back with him this time, and led her around the house to his wide, green lawn, hoping the peace and beauty of the spot would persuade the Mord’Sith to relax her stubborn guard, however briefly.   
  
Richard dropped to his knees with a grin, and held his arms open wide as the baby toddled towards him, having spotted his approach with crowing glee. He knew Cara was standing waiting behind him, but he ignored her for the moment, content to press a kiss to the round face in his arms until its owner squirmed to be let go and stepped haltingly back to her abandoned toys.    
  
Richard stood again, and brushed grass off his knees, turning to Cara with a proud smile on his face.    
  
“She was barely walking when I left.”    
  
Cara  _hmphed_  in acknowledgement, but her expression remained inscrutable, eyes measuring Richard up and down calculatingly.    
  
“Cara?” After years spent in the woman’s company, Richard had long since learned to simply ask. “What is it?”    
  
She stared at him, and then shrugged. “You’ll need an heir, you know.”    
  
Richard’s brow pinched together in confusion. “What are you talking about?” He looked toward the girl giggling in the grass. “She is my heir.”    
  
Cara snorted and narrowed her eyes in annoyance. “She’s not a Rahl,  _Richard_ . She’ll never be accepted, whatever your feelings are for her and her mother. I haven’t spent all this time working on your behalf,  _talking_  and buttering up fat princelings to see it all fall apart again when you die. You owe it to D’Hara to pass on your line. And you owe it to me.”    
  
Richard scowled. “Well the  _princelings_  will just have to get over it. I won’t just…”   
  
Giving up, he stalked towards the house, his whole happiness to be home evaporating into the air.    
  
“Richard,” Cara called after him, some small tone of regret in her voice, “I’m sorry, but Kahlan would agree with me. Clearly! It is your duty to pass on—“    
  
Richard slammed the door.    
  
***   
  
Kahlan walked to town one morning and didn’t come back.    
  
Richard would have been frantic, if the reports didn’t reach him that the Mother Confessor was seen walking south down the road—alone, and with a bag slung on her shoulder that Richard knew she hadn’t left the house with.    
  
Reluctantly, understanding dawned on Richard and he quietly turned down the offers to follow Kahlan’s path.    
  
The girl cried inconsolably as Richard rocked her in his arms. At three years old, she was too used to her mother existing at the very centre of her world to be able to deal with her sudden and unexplained disappearance. Richard could feel resentment clawing at his throat, at being left alone (again), but he swallowed and pushed it back and resigned himself to waiting.    
  
It took five weeks this time.    
  
He met her on the road, just like before, and took in her tired, dusty frame with a silent gaze.    
  
Kahlan opened her mouth. “Richard—“    
  
“—You’re pregnant again.”    
  
She blinked and looked away, but her eyes stayed dry. “Yes.”    
  
“Was it…” Richard shifted, cleared his throat, “the same man, the one before?”    
  
“ _Richard_ ,” Kahlan looked pleading, “I can’t let her be the only Confessor! She can’t be alone in this. I have a duty to, to… I had to—you understand, don’t you?”   
  
He nodded. Curtly. “I understand.”    
  
Kahlan’s shoulders slumped, either in exhaustion or defeat, he couldn’t tell. Richard stood still, hand gripping the fence post, and tried not to imagine it crumbling beneath his fingers. 


End file.
